When it comes to selecting categories bloggers often fall into one of two traps. Some add a category as an after thought often using the same one repeatedly while some go to the other extreme, adding loads of rather specific ones leaving their blog full of category archives with only a couple of posts in most of them. Here are four reasons why a carefully selected range of categories is good for your blog.
Categories maintain your focus
While it is obviously possible to have a successful blog by just writing whatever takes your fancy, sticking to a handful of topics that work together gives your blog consistency. It lets people know what to expect from your blog allowing you to build up a loyal readership.
Categories make it easier to develop an editorial calendar
An editorial calendar can be anything from planning and scheduling a months worth of content ahead of time to just generally trying to post a review on Mondays, a recipe on Wednesdays etc, depending on what works for you. Wherever you find yourself on the spectrum of organisation, having a set of topics that you know you write about regularly makes it easier to plan ahead, spacing out similar types of posts.
Categories help people navigate your site
Some of your readers may enjoy particular topics you write about and want to find more of them. They might want to find crafts specifically for the preschool age group or all your UK family day out reviews. Being able to find all posts from a category makes that easier for them and gives them more posts to look at than using your search bar for a specific term (so more potential page views for you).
Categories improve your SEO
One advantage of categories we don’t always consider is that using well chosen categories that relate to your niche and the keywords you want your blog to rank well for should improve your SEO. This also means how you name your categories is important. Going for something specific like ‘preschool craft’ is likely to attract more search hits than ‘what we made’ or ‘sticky fun-times’.
All in all, it’s definitely worth spending a little time thinking about your categories to make sure they are the best fit for your blog.
